Examples of such apparatus are known from the prior art. For example, U.S. patent application no. 2011/0124276 A1 discloses a device for forming groups of sausage links and for depositing them into packaging trays. To achieve that purpose, the device has a conveyor belt for forming groups of sausage links and a second conveyor belt which transports the groups of sausage links from a surface into packaging trays arranged underneath said surface.
The disadvantage of the prior art described above is that the speed with which the groups of sausage links are deposited into the packaging trays is limited. If the second belt unit moves too quickly, it is no longer possible to place the groups of sausage links into the packaging trays without errors occurring. Nor is it possible to ensure that the groups of sausage links are correctly aligned.
DE 101 24 712 A1 also shows a device for placing sausages into a packaging item, in which a shaft which can be moved along the packaging item and be stopped at a desired position is arranged over the packaging item.
DE 196 10 965 A1 discloses a device for further transport of sausages which have been fed to the device by a conveyor belt. A mechanism for removing the sausages from the conveyor and which is provided in the form of a star wheel is assigned to the conveyor belt.
In addition to the above, DE 43 34 238 A1 shows an apparatus for packing sausages, and/or sausage meat shaped into sausages, which are transported via a feeder unit into a packaging station in which at least one star wheel is arranged above a packaging item and is assigned to the feeder unit.
A sausage collating device and a method for collating sausages to form groups comprising a predetermined number of sausages, with a transport device for transporting the spaced-apart sausages and at least one accumulator element for accumulating the sausages is known from EP 3 053 443 A1, in which the at least one accumulator element for collating the sausages can be moved in the direction of transport of the transport device.
The apparatuses described above are also unable to release groups of sausages into packaging units at high speed with reliable guidance and in an error-free manner.
Given this background, the object of the invention is to develop an apparatus of the kind initially specified in such a way that the disadvantages of the prior art are eliminated as far as possible. More specifically, the object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a corresponding method for transferring sausage links or food portions, such as groups of sausage links, with precision and at high speed and with low susceptibility to error, thereby for transferring them into a packaging item.